Jessica Bell, Associate, Kalus Kenny Intelex, Melbourne, Australia 2026 begins with a number of changes to the Australian Trade Marks landscape, following the introduction of the Trade Marks Amendment (International Registrations, Hearings and Oppositions) Regulations 2025 (the IRHO Regulations). The IRHO Regulations introduce a variety of procedural and technical updates to the Trade Mark Regulations … Continue Reading
Commodore, What Can You Learn From Drifters? By James P. Flynn, Epstein Becker Green Trademark lawyers eventually learn a hard truth: brands often do not die; instead, they drift. Sometimes they drift quietly into nostalgia. Sometimes they drift into the hands of the entrepreneurial and well-advised. Other times, they drift along unattended. Of course, sometimes, they drift straight into court. Few issues in intellectual property law reveal the fault lines … Continue Reading
Introduction The new United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director John A. Squires was sworn in on September 22, 2025 and wasted no time that week in expanding patent eligibility for AI related inventions. In particular, the new Director presided over the September 26 Appeals Review Panel (ARP) decision in Ex parte Desjardins, Appeal 2024-000567. … Continue Reading
By Kriton Metaxopoulos, Managing Partner, at A. & K. METAXOPOULOS AND PARTNERS LAW FIRM Fairly recently, Greek Parliament passed a Bill introducing serious changes to the representation powers of Greek CMOs in an effort to strengthen their position in the Greek market. These changes seriously affect direct licensing in Greece and introduce rules that clearly favor Collective Management Organizations and limit the right of authors to … Continue Reading
By: Daniel H. Bliss Suppose you have filed a trademark application to register a trademark that identifies a source of goods/services for your business. During examination of the trademark application, the United States Patent and Trademark Office initially refused registration because of an alleged likelihood of confusion with a registered mark. What are the DuPont … Continue Reading
David Cinque, Special Counsel – Kalus Kenny Intelex, Melbourne, Australia Jessica Bell, Associate – Kalus Kenny Intelex, Melbourne, Australia When it comes to trade mark protection and registrability, being a reputable market-leading brand is not enough to guarantee either the registration of a mark, or a successful opposition to the registration of a competing mark. … Continue Reading
For many lawyers practicing outside the United States, intellectual property protection and risk are most often associated with patents, trademarks and copyrights. Trade secrets are frequently treated as the forgotten stepchild—associated with employment law and contracts rather than as an independent body of law. But since the passage of the Federal Defend Trade Secrets Act … Continue Reading
After more than a hundred years of settled U.S. trademark policy, an interesting problem has developed for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). How to square the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions striking down parts of the federal Lanham Act with the USPTO’s historical rejection of immoral, scandalous, or disparaging trademarks? Whether by … Continue Reading
By Dan H. Bliss Suppose you want to register a trademark that identifies a source of goods/services for your business. What if the trademark on the specimen of use has punctuation that is different from the drawing of the trademark in the trademark application? Does the punctuation in the trademark specimen of use have to … Continue Reading
Fanatics, LLC v FanFirm Pty Ltd [2025] FCAFC 87 Jessica Bell, Associate – Kalus Kenny Intelex, Melbourne, Australia. The Full Federal Court of Australia has passed judgment on a clash between local sports merchandiser, FanFirm Pty Limited, and a global opponent, Fanatics, LLC in a case about when the line between trade mark co-existence and … Continue Reading
By Marie Lussier of Fogler, Rubinoff LLP and Celia Ohayon Since the start of the year, Canadian consumers and businesses have rallied behind the “Elbows Up!” movement and are looking to “buy Canadian”. Homegrown goods are in high demand, and origin claims like “Made in Canada” and “Product of Canada” are getting more attention than ever. These claims, however, … Continue Reading
By Dan Bliss of Howard & Howard Suppose that you want to register your trademark that is in a non-English language on goods or services for your business in the United States. Will your non-English language trademark need to be translated to English to determine its registrability? If so, can your English translation trademark be … Continue Reading
By Gaurav Bhalla of Ahlawat & Associates The Bombay High Court recently affirmed the order of the Registrar of Trade Marks whereby TikTok’s application for declaration of its mark as well-known in India was disallowed. Interestingly, this decision (by the Bombay High Court) was not on merits but rather had a heavy influence of sovereignty … Continue Reading
Jessica Bell – Lawyer, Kalus Kenny Intelex, Melbourne Australia David Cinque – Special Counsel, Kalus Kenny Intelex The Australian Trade Marks Office has permitted the registration of the trade mark UBER TUTORS after finding that transport and delivery giant, Uber Technologies Inc (Uber Tech) failed to oppose the mark’s registration under the Trade Marks Act … Continue Reading
By James P. Flynn, Epstein Becker Green In 2015, the Wall Street Journal observed why Birkenstock sandals might be considered cool: “It’s a taboo thing,” said New York-based stylist Brian Coats, who dresses Jimmy Fallon. “The fact that Birkenstocks are so uncool makes them cool.” The unstylish stereotype tied to Birkenstocks, said Mr. Coats, has … Continue Reading
Jessica Bell, Kalus Kenny Intelex, Melbourne Australia A recent trade mark stoush in the eyelash extension market highlights the importance of registering trade marks in all states of Australia, and ensuring that trade marks that intend to be used are registered as soon as possible. The Australian Trade Marks Office (ATMO) recently dismissed two related … Continue Reading
By Daniel H. Bliss Suppose you want to register a trademark that identifies a source of goods/services for your business. What if the trademark describes an ingredient, quality, feature, function, characteristic, or purpose of your goods/services? Can your trademark be too descriptive to obtain a registration from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office? The answer … Continue Reading
By Marie Lussier of Fogler Rubinoff LLP In July 2024, I discussed proposed changes to trademark proceedings in Canada. Following a public consultation period, revised Regulations came into force on April 1, 2024 that incorporate those proposed changes. The changes aim to improve the efficiency of dispute resolution proceedings in Canada. Time will tell if … Continue Reading
By Gregory J. Krabacher, Epstein Becker Green Recently, the U.S. Copyright Office published the second of an intended three-part report entitled “Copyright and Artificial Intelligence.” Here are those three parts: Collectively, this report – I’ll refer to it here as the “AI Report” – is intended to provide the Copyright Office’s perspective on fundamental questions … Continue Reading
By Daniel H. Bliss Suppose that you have obtained a U.S. trademark registration for your trademark on goods or services for your business. Can your trademark registration be cancelled with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office based on genericness? If so, what is the appropriate time period for assessing whether a trademark is generic? Is … Continue Reading
By Jessica Bell, Lawyer – Kalus Kenny Intelex, Melbourne, Australia Pop star Katy Perry has successfully appealed a Federal Court ruling over the use of an Australian designer’s trade mark registration for the words KATIE PERRY. The recent decision by the Full Court of the Federal Court unanimously overturned Justice Brigitte Markovic’s findings in Taylor … Continue Reading
By Marie Lussier In January 2025, the Registrar of Trademarks launched a pilot project in which it sends notices to certain registrants asking them to show use of their registered mark, failing which their registration is to be cancelled. These notices are subject to the same modalities as those issued at the request of a … Continue Reading
By Daniel H. Bliss Suppose you have uncovered a copyrighted work from another that contains copyright management information such as a copyright notice. However, you want to remove or alter this copyright management information. Should you remove or alter any copyright management information from the copyrighted work? The answer is NO because there is liability!… Continue Reading
By Abhijeet Das, Partner, Pragya Jain, Associate and Ashish Kumar, Associate, LexCounsel Law Offices Introduction Post-pandemic, there has been a significant rise in digital marketing worldwide. Companies are utilising platforms (“Platforms”) like Google Ads and various social media networks to connect with prospective customers. To showcase their products or services on these Platforms, businesses often … Continue Reading
